The need to converse fuel in motor vehicles and other applications is attenuated by the ever present specter of another world fuel oil crisis. Government decrees have required the automobile industry to scale down the size of automobiles as one of the best means of saving fuel and the industry has made every effort to create ever more efficient power plants for their vehicles. One aspect of automobile construction, however, has not heretofore been successfully addressed. That aspect is the inherent inefficiency of the vehicle drive train comprising the transmission and axle assembly.
Transmissions now in use in automobiles provide for gear ratios of from approximately from 4.5:1 to 1:1, with slightly higher ratio for high speed by the addition of an `overdrive` gear. Present technology does not allow for the much needed expansion of power ratios within the present configuration of the transmission. It is therefore necessary to use a much more powerful power plant for efficient operation at low speed/high power modes than is necessary to efficiently propel the vehicle at cruising speeds.
The problem is two fold. With power ratios of 8:1 or 10:1 the size of the power plant could be reduced by as much as 50%, with even greater efficiency and corresponding fuel conservation. At the other end of the spectrum; a comfortable `high` gear ratio can be achieved at only 25 to 30 mph, yet, when speeds of 50 or 60 mph are reached, where minimal power is needed to propel the vehicle, it is impossible to slow down the motor without slowing down the vehicle. The transmission, in it's present configuration, locks the drive train to the motor and requires the motor to operate at it's greatest power potential, with corresponding use of fuel, when minimum power is actually needed.
The solution to both cited problems has been successfully addressed by this inventor in his previously cited U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,868 and this invention enhances and expands that mechanism with novel and unique improvements.